Problems of today, Ideas for tomorrow

People of the Lie

“…the uncanny game of hide and seek in the obscurity of the soul, in which it, the single human soul, evades itself, avoids itself, hides from itself.”

Martin Buber

Recent events brought to mind psychotherapist M.Scott Peck’s book People of the Lie: The hope for healing human evil, published 1983, which I read many years ago now.

Peck’s book is actually about the psychology of evil, or rather seeking towards such a thing.

He gives a useful definition of evil:

Evil is that which kills or suppresses life or the life force.

Goodness is its opposite – that which promotes life and liveliness.

There is an element of such evil in all of us, but what matters is how we respond and evolve. If we invoke the mask of self righteousness, a self-image of perfection, and are not open to the evil that might be within then we deceive ourselves – the biggest lie.

I picked out three major characteristics which give warning signs of evil:

refusal to face the evil within, denial of one’s own guilt, often means projecting onto others and scapegoating.

an extreme narcissism, termed malignant narcissism by Erich Fromm.

a strong will to control others, leading to manipulative behaviours, demanding loyalty,…

Remind you of anyone?

Interestingly, Peck suggests that the most evil people are not found in prisons – these are mild cases compared to the ‘professionals’ around in society itself.

The most typical victim of evil is a child, thus evil can be conditioned onto the next generation. One task of education should be to raise the level of self awareness to provide a societal counter to this.

At the end of the day, in other terms, evil is driven by so-called rational ego and lack of empathy, left brain dominating over right brain, masculine over feminine.

Evil is real and anti-life. It can be conquered only by confrontation, love, acceptance and growth.

In the case of apparently entirely evil persons, they need to be opposed and confronted by the good – the strong will opposed by the good will, with love at its side.

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2 thoughts on “People of the Lie”

Uncanny, isnt it. My mother was the consumate narcissist, and here comes duhdonald…it’s all about control, more control, and making oneself feel better at the expense of others, for the benefit of other Others who will then admire you and your aggrieved suffering at the hands of Other People. They are wordsmiths, adept at leaving out key phrases, or twisting what they have into successes rather than failures.
It’s why Trump is so powerful: those who believe him believe IN him.

I won’t even put it into public words, where Im afraid this entire debacle is heading, it’s too preposterous to deal with, but also too possible. This is a dangerous, scary time.

I read you article i appreciate your open to comments.
So there is only 2 ways i can prove your wrong
I. “”God doesn’t create evil””
1…So a child couldn’t possibly be evil but could be tempted by.
2… We make the choice
“since we are an image of God” if choice is evil we feel the sin only if we belive in God.
And thats why.. like you said.. evil lacks empathy.. And mercy.
3…Evil is dead..
So Evil cannot possibly Kill nor prevent living,
But human can by choosing to be Evil which is the Mask you earlier mentioned.

II. We already know the Good
…i think its the most powerfull feature we possess to flash evil and it’s presence.

So in the end all who are evil are a lie not the opposite way around.
Thank you.